the ballet flat paradox

what happens when fashion reinvents a classic?

Remember those glove flats slash high vamp Mary Janes that lingered in my Q1 wishlist and moved over to Q2? Sometimes overthinking something means you just need to make a decision. Other times, the overthinking is a sign that there’s something behind it.

I thought about why I was waffling so much, and this is what I came up with:

This begs the question: why does the classic ballet flat need reinventing?

It’s interesting how each iteration of the ballet flat has also gone through its own mini-evolutionary process. The round-toe low cut ballet flats that dominated the 2000-2010s are now emblematic of so-called “Millennial style”, and depending on whom you ask, either “always classic” or “definitely passé”. When cult brand Martiniano debuted the soft leather glove flat in 2011, the initial hot take was that it was “ugly/polarizing”, but by 2015 it was a bestseller and well on its way to becoming the IYKYK It Shoe.¹ In 2024, the even higher-vamp flat also comes in an edgy ‘90s-inspired Mary Jane or a noticeably squared-toe ballet version. In retail and editorial copy, the latest shoes are often described as “reimagined”, “modern”, “updated”. These are pretty clever word choices that create the desire to buy by subtly undermining the previous styles of this shoe and stoking consumer FOMO.² Because, you know, capitalism.

An example of the current “modern” fashion ballet flat. Note the Y2K-inspired square toe; these ironically look like exaggerated pointe shoes.

Not surprisingly, planned obsolescence is the driving force in the ballet flat’s evolution over the past two decades. Canny marketing is also driving my desire to buy this “modern” version. And I realized that here is the implicit truth about what it means to future-proof your wardrobe by buying styles categorized as “classics — that will never go out of style”:

Your “timeless/classic” wardrobe pieces are only as future-proof as your future tastes.

The paradox of the ballet flat is that it’s simultaneously trendy and classic. A closet full of classics won’t function as an evergreen wardrobe if you don’t want to wear them anymore in a year or ten years, when fashion dictates that it’s time for a “modern”, cooler replacement. Part of the point of buying a quality classic is the singular, one-and-done factor. The “classic” pieces in your wardrobe earn their place as classics through the practice of use from years of re-wearing and not-buying.

My months-long hesitation turns out to be the symptom of my own interventional guilt trip — I have two pairs of very comfortable, very well made Italian ballet flats that are in excellent shape, so why am I wanting to add another pair of pretty similar leather flats to the list? (Answer: novelty + perceived obsolescence.)

I feel like Donald Judd would agree: “A good ballet flat is a good ballet flat.”

Do I need a reinvented ballet flat? (No.) Do I want one? (I thought I did, but upon further reflection, not really.)

In the end, I’m taking the glove flat/Mary Janes off my list and will keep wearing the quality shoes I already have. If and when my old ballet flats wear out and are beyond repair, I will surely consider my options, and fully enjoy shopping for a replacement.

PS: I discovered that the soft leather ballet shoes that I wear for barre are also great as indoor house slippers. They’re leather with cotton lining, mold to your feet perfectly (because they’re actual dance shoes), and refreshingly inexpensive. Sometimes you just need to go back to the source.

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Do you wear any or all of these shoes? What do you think?

1. See Lauren Sherman’s fun Fashionista piece on the rise of the glove shoe.

2. For example, the Khaite ballet flat is described as: “A sleek, rounded-toe flat that reimagines the classic ballerina with a high vamp.”